#035 – Sugar By Half
Activate your community to change the world
Published on November 12, 2018
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It’s a gargantuan task to take on the processed food industy, change our food habits and lobby governments. Sugar By Half seeks to do just that and get Australians to reduce their sugar intake by…half. A good spoonful of community activation will help the message go down.
Here’re the facts.
We are consuming 22kg of added sugar each year. There is a direct link between sugary drink consumption and obesity, dental cavities and Type 2 diabetes.
1 in 3 Aussie kids will be overweight or obese by 2025. There are now 42 million obese children in developed countries between the ages of 0 and 5.
Half of Australia’s 12-year-olds have tooth decay in their adult teeth, and more than half of 6-year-olds have decay in their baby teeth.
Everyday, 280 Australians will be diagnosed with all types of diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes (Type 2 diabetes) is on the rise in children and young people.
Sobering stuff.
Sugar By Half wants to change this. They’re well on their way to creating the frameworks that will allow them to influence, lobby and challenge the status quo. They’re well poised to capitalise on the work already done by a raft of ‘anti-sugar’ campaigners and activists. The public is primed.
We all know sugar is bad. Now, how do we make meaningful change in our food supply industries to improve our health outcomes?
Be consistent with content
Making great content is one thing, but having the framework in place to put out good content on a regular basis allows you a platform to and the means to engage your audience and influencers.
Using social media for Community Activation
What’s Your Swap? Challenge your supporters and audience to make an easy swap. Get celebrities behind your cause. Like the Weetbix campaigns that directly asks their audience ‘How many do you do?’
We can ask ‘How much did you swap?’ Upload it. Hashtag it.
Online Petitions
Adding a simple Call to Action, such ‘Join this petition, to change <insert cause>’ is a very powerful way to get your audiene to rally to your cause. Global activism groups like Avaaz do it really well.
Learn more about this great and worthwhile cause here – Sugar By Half .